In my more pedantic youth, I entertained myself endlessly by playing this game when people tried to ask me for the time.
“Do you have the time?” “Yes.” ”Will you tell me the time?” “It depends.” ”On what?” “Whether you ask me.” (sigh) “All right, then, will you tell me the time?!?” ”As I say: it depends!”
It astonished me how difficult it was for people to forego polite indirection.
I don’t think they were failing to forego polite indirection so much as failing to discover via mindreading the secret phrasing which they needed to use in order to extract the time from you.
In my more pedantic youth, I entertained myself endlessly by playing this game when people tried to ask me for the time.
“Do you have the time?”
“Yes.”
”Will you tell me the time?”
“It depends.”
”On what?”
“Whether you ask me.”
(sigh) “All right, then, will you tell me the time?!?”
”As I say: it depends!”
It astonished me how difficult it was for people to forego polite indirection.
“What time is it?!”
“It’s five o’clock somewhere.”
I don’t think they were failing to forego polite indirection so much as failing to discover via mindreading the secret phrasing which they needed to use in order to extract the time from you.